Here’s a fine folk metal album from Russia’s Arkona that continues Napalm’s recent run of solid folk metal albums (Svartsot, Heidevolk, Alestorm and to some extent Hollenthon) and should please fans of typically Russian/Eastern European bands like Butterfly Temple, Obtest, Skyforger Pagan Reign as well as the usual folk overload fare like Finntroll and Asmegin. […]
“Class is cancelled.”The first words on Ruling Class Cancelled are bellowed by Jason Netherton of Misery Index after a riffalicious introduction, before their not-so-grandiose seven-and-a-half minute side of the split gets underway. And I mean not-so-grandiose in the best way possible; I mean, who the fuck wants grindcore that drags on forever? “Not I,” says […]
I would be an idiot to say this is a terrible album, but I couldn’t pass up saying this is perhaps Neuraxis’ most pedestrian moment. Where once bombast and sheer power dominated this, one of the most celebrated of the Canadian death metal bands around, now it would seem they prefer a different approach; one […]
Adding to Metal Blade’s fine 2008 death metal releases like Hail of Bullets, Hate Eternal, Brain Drill and The Rotted comes this low key artwork and logo clad, out of nowhere, debut release from the UK’s Trigger the Bloodshed. While the likes of Mithras, Spearhead, Man Must Die, Detrimentium and Sarpanitum have slowly exhumed the […]
Metal Blade is having a good year, even in the crowded metalcore/deathcore genre. They already have the likes of The Black Dahlia Murder, Job For a Cowboy and The Red Chord on their roster then, 2008 has also seen solid releases by Whitechapel and Fate as well as future releases by the likes of Rose […]
I’m a college student. I don’t own a car. This means I do a lot of walking and bus riding. With all this semi-idle time on my hands, its a blessing to have music such as Sombres Forêts. Royaume De Glace (which translates to “Kingdom of Ice”) is, to get right to the point, an […]
Here is a very tasty little17 minute, 6 track EP of fierce, angular but intelligent hardcore featuring former Reversal of Man vocalist Matt Coplon as well as other veterans from the Tampa, Florida hardcore scene and even former Brutality demo drummer Ken Karg (yes, that Brutality). With a darkly nihilistic tone and atmosphere littered with […]
Originally released on The Flood Records back in 2007, Deepsend has dug up this collection of Ulcerate’s first two demo CD’s and given fans a chance to hear the bands early material, before 2007s blisteringly impressive Of Fracture and Failure. Consisting of 8 tracks, four from the band’s untitled 2003 demo and four from 2004’s […]
On the surface, it would appear that Ferret has become the anathema of every indie music fan; that being a capitalistically driven monolith intent on peddling the lowest common denominator drivel and casting it off as music that is ‘innovative,’ ‘vital,’ or that has ‘integrity.’ Fortunately, Ferret, unlike Victory hasn’t descended too far into the […]
No time like the present. Whereas some bands spend way too long working on their material and refusing to release it to the outside world until its ready, others, like Arizona’s Knights of the Abyss just lock, load and get right down to it. What’s more astonishing in this case is the massive change in […]
As I’ve voiced in a number of reviews recently, the whole Middle Eastern thing has become so overused, in everything from symphonic black metal to progressive metal to death metal, that it no longer feels daring or surprising. Melodies that are supposed to come off as mysterious and exotic frequently read as romantic caricature, or […]
I hate to break up all the metal here of late, but here’s some impassioned, intelligent hardcore for fans of Killing the Dream, Have Heart, Dead Hearts and Passion. Laced with political angst, Verse’s third album is a collective of confrontational hymns and personal struggles delivered with a sense of melancholy amid the expected power […]
Much like label mates Verse, Boston’s Have Heart play a form of modern melodic hardcore, but where Verse came across as more introspective and varied, Have Heart, while still emotional and honest, have a more expected, tighter and angrier, typical hardcore delivery, though still impassioned and honest. More traditionally based around rousing power chords and layered […]
The more open minded of you that rave about bands like Opeth and Katatonia seriously need to give Galgenfrist a few listens. To most brought up in the western music tradition this is a challenging listen, but one well worth the effort. This is not groundbreaking, after all this idea has been around several hundred […]
Return to the days of old… when enemies were crushed and driven before you, and the air was filled with the lamentation of the women. When manly, battle-scarred barbarians swung their six-strings and pummeled their wardrums. When bands like Brocas Helm, Cirith Ungol and Manilla Road mixed classic heavy metal, doom and a fascination for […]
Despite the fact I’ll never see a show by these guys ‘cos of their moronic fans, the fact is I love their recorded output all the way back to 2002’s … And Life is Very Long. So now here with their second Prosthetic Records offering and after the slight tangent that The Dead Walk took […]
I usually take the self generated press from label owners, PR folks and such for granted. Every PR person and label folk will tell me that the upcoming album from band X on their roster is amazing or brilliant. So when the folks at Profound Lore told me that the debut from Krallice would be […]
While Decapitated, Behemoth and Vader are considered Polish death metal royalty, there’s a second tier of the Polish death metal aristocracy headed up by the likes of Yattering, Trauma, Crionics and underlooked veterans, Hate. Not only buried under the prestige of their own country mates, but also 2008’s slew of killer death metal, comes Hate’s […]
Sometimes the premise makes you laugh. Such is the case with Sabaton. Swedish power/heavy metal band singing about war. Before I was able to chuckle at the fact that Sweden last fought in a war so long ago no one actually remembers it anymore, the well-oiled heavy metal war machine shocked and awed me with […]
I first noticed this band several years ago, during a marathon research trip into the black metal underworld – a frustrating venture that touched on over a hundred bands, but produced little in the way of actual gems. Spite Extreme Wing was one of the exceptions – a sharp, angular black metal outfit from Italy that, […]
Hard to believe it’s been seven years since the release of Hollenthon‘s previous opus, With Vilest of Worms to Dwell. Besides featuring one of the more memorable covers that year (a coiled snake with a protruding, knuckled spine), it boasted epic, symphonic swells over vaguely Viking riffage and coarse vocals. It should have been right […]
One of the easiest ways to get me to listen to an album is to record a song with Jorn Lande on vocals. While he’s not my favorite singer – not even in the top five, really – he seldom disappoints. Lande has one of those timeless rock voices, just enough smoothness and just enough […]
One of the most anticipated records of the year for me was Cavalera Conspiracy, reuniting Sepultura vocalist/guitarist Max Cavalera and drummer Igor Cavalera. Though it’s been eclipsed in my mind by records released since, it was an outstanding effort, and I thought it would be tough for Max’s other band, Soulfly, to compete. So I […]
With most good bands, I remember riffs. Walk up to any metal kid in your neighborhood and ask him to recite the opening riff from ‘Angel of Death’ by Slayer (because he might know the riff from Thin Lizzy’s song of the same name). Actually, chances are, you are that kid. So go on. Hum […]
Could it be that death metal is making a comeback in the good ol’ UK? With Mithras, Man Must Die, Detrimentum, Spearhead, Sarpanitum and now the debut EP from Porkfarm, it appears so…. Compacting enough brutality and savagery into 6 songs to warrant any death metal fans attention, Blood Harvest is a death metal/grindcore mash […]